


It Might Not Seem Like It, but Cupid's Got Me in a Chokehold

by ThePackWantstheD



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: 2015-2016 NHL Season, 5+1 Things, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, Hover Translations, M/M, Prompt Fill, Secret Relationship, World Cup of Hockey, no choking?? incase you thought there was bc title
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-05
Updated: 2016-11-05
Packaged: 2018-08-29 03:16:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8473348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThePackWantstheD/pseuds/ThePackWantstheD
Summary: "You're not forgiven," Claude said. Jonny laughed a bit as he climbed onto the bed with Claude. He set his plate down near Claude's before settling down so he was lying on his stomach as well. Their shoulders and thighs pressed together. Jonny moved his ankle so it was wrapped around Claude's on the bed, reviling in the feeling of his boyfriend against him after so long apart. "That's alright since I don't forgive you for ordering without me," Jonny answered. Settling in, he reached to pick his pizza up and asked, "So what creepy shit are they catching on this episode?"





	

**Author's Note:**

> So this was a fill for [this](http://thesinbin.dreamwidth.org/3790.html?thread=4231374) prompt over on the sinbin. Hopefully everyone enjoys it?
> 
> Whenever you see french, hover over it and you should see the translation!

**i.**  
Jonny slipped his key-card into the lock before pushing the hotel room door open.

There was a small corridor between the door and the main room, the bathroom off the right of it and a small vanity tucked into a nook on the left, but Jonny could see TV flickering and hear Jeremy Wade explaining whatever ridiculous fish they'd caught on River Monsters that week.

"You know," he said, reaching up to tug at the knot of his tie as he walked further into the room, "you sure do watch this show a lot considering how much you hate fishing."

"Well, maybe fishing would be more interesting if you caught something straight up out of my nightmares instead of a bunch of tiny bass."

As Jonny stepped into the main body of the room, he found Claude lying stomach down on the bed with his elbows propped up. He'd already stripped out of his suit, changing into a red tee-shirt and forgoing pants in favor of lazing around in his briefs. The briefs were small enough that though they peeked out under the hem of the shirt, they left a wide expanse of Claude's thighs open for Jonny's eyes to roam over.

Sometimes, Jonny found himself wondering how they got here. He wondered how a handful of Team Canada promotion events and coinciding captaincy duties had ended up with them in a place where Jonny was going to a hotel after a Flyers and Blackhawks game instead of back to his place. Sometimes, Jonny couldn't bring himself to care how they'd gotten here. Sometimes, all that Jonny cared about was how insanely in love with Claude he was and how he had gotten so lucky that they'd bumped into each other enough over the years to become this.

Right now, he was feeling the latter.

"You ate without me," Jonny said, gesturing to the white paper plate sitting on the bed next to Claude and the brown pizza box on the table.

"You were taking forever," Claude said without a hint of remorse. "You can have deep dish pizza whenever you want, but I'm only in Chicago a few times a year. I refuse to wait and risk all of the good delivery closing."

"I know, I know," Jonny said. He pulled his tie off and tossed it onto the entertainment enter as he walked over to the box. He unbuttoned the first few buttons of his shirt and rolled up his sleeves before peeking into the pizza box. Claude had gotten their usual - extra cheese, mushrooms, and bacon. "I got caught up talking to Kaner."

"You turned down time with me to talk to Patrick Kane? Who you see almost everyday?"

"No," Jonny answered with a shake of his head. He grabbed one of the plates from the small stack next to the box before grabbing a piece of pizza and slapping it onto it. When it came to deep dish, his diet and daily calorie intake couldn't really take more than one slice. Not even after a game. "I was getting ready to leave and he started talking about going out. He wanted to take 'Temi out to pick up. I spent like twenty minutes trying to talk my way out of it without letting on that I was sneaking away to see my boyfriend."

They'd talked for a while about coming out to their friends when their relationship had transitioned from casual dating to a serious relationship, but ultimately they'd both decided they weren't really ready to deal with all of that yet. They wanted a little while longer to figure out where they stood, because navigating a serious long-distance relationship took a different sort of system than just casual hookups, and enjoy their time with each other.

"You're not forgiven," Claude said.

Jonny laughed a bit as he climbed onto the bed with Claude. He set his plate down near Claude's before settling down so he was lying on his stomach as well. Their shoulders and thighs pressed together. Jonny moved his ankle so it was wrapped around Claude's on the bed, reviling in the feeling of his boyfriend against him after so long apart.

"That's alright since I don't forgive you for ordering without me," Jonny answered. Settling in, he reached to pick his pizza up and asked, "So what creepy shit are they catching on this episode?"

 

  
**ii.**   
"-did what?"

Jonny padded through Claude's condo, rubbing a towel against his hair as he dried it. He had plenty of clothes at Claude's place, ones he'd left their previously and the suitcase he'd brought with him, but when he'd gotten out of the shower he'd opted for pulling on a pair of sweatpants and an old Philadelphia Phantoms tee-shirt of Claude's. He refused to wear any of Claude's Flyers gear on principle, but he didn't mind wearing clothing for an AHL affiliate of theirs. Claude hadn't played there for very long, but the few pieces of Phantom gear he had were some of his most worn out piece of clothing which made them super comfortable and let Jonny surround himself in Claude's scent.

As he reached the kitchen, he found Claude standing in front of the stove with his phone held up to his ear. Whereas Jonny had opted for more sleepwear after his shower, he didn't have any plans to go anywhere other than Claude's bed, Claude had pulled on a pair of jeans and a tee-shirt that probably didn't have any stains or holes in it.

Jonny was vaguely annoyed by that. Getting Claude out of his jeans later was going to be a little more difficult than getting Claude out of sweatpants would have been.

"I'm honestly just amazed he thought he would get away with it," Claude said as Jonny approached him. Jonny slipped behind him, wrapping his arms around Claude's waist and burying his face between Claude's shoulder blades. He felt Claude move, craning his head back to look at him. Claude's voice dropped a little lower, speaking softer, as he asked, "Hey, you hungry? I'm making broccoli and cheese omelets."

"Yum." Jonny slid his hands so he could tuck the tips of his fingers into the waistband of Claude's jeans. He dipped under Claude's briefs so they would rest against the smooth skin on Claude's hipbones. "Who are you talking too?"

"Danny," Claude said. "He got a call from the school telling him he had to pick Caelan up and meet with the principle, so he's venting." Jonny heard the vague murmurs of someone on the other end saying something. When Claude spoke again, Jonny knew it wasn't directed at him, "What? No."

As Claude's attention was pulled away from him, Jonny nuzzled further into Claude's back.

He loved hockey with all of his soul, but he loved the occasions when he had more than a night off and could spend a sleepy morning with Claude. He liked waking up in Claude's arms like he had earlier and having Claude's voice be the first thing he heard in the morning. Mornings like this one always put him in a good mood for the entire day.

"Chéri, vous êtes être ridicule. Prenez une grande respiration et calmer," Claude said, the french slipping smoothly off his tongue. Jonny might have been more concerned by the nickname if he didn't know that as close as Claude and Danny were their relationship had never been romantic and never would be. As it was Claude had explained his relationship with Danny and Jonny was free to enjoy the sound of French coming from Claude's mouth. He missed Winnipeg so much that he ached with it sometimes, so it was always nice to hear his second language. There was a moment before Claude spoke again, "Good? Okay. I promise I am not airing your dirty laundry to some white night stand so park the car and go talk to the principle. I'm sure whatever Caelan did isn't that bad. They're probably just sending him home for the day and giving him a few days of detention."

Jonny snorted against Claude's back.

Claude had a spatula in one hand, poking at the eggs in the pan, but now he reached back to slap it against Jonny's ass in warning.

Jonny's hips jerked at the swat and the accompanying sting. He whispered, "That was rude. I didn't do anything to deserve a spanking."

Looking over his shoulder, Claude fixed Jonny with a look that portrayed just how ridiculous he found that notion. Jonny just fixed him with a smug, crooked smile. Claude rolled his eyes at him, but there was affection in his eyes and the turn of his lips.

Claude turned away from Jonny as Danny said something on the other line.

"Mmm, yeah," Claude said, moving the food in pan around as he turned his attention back to it. "I'll talk to you later. Salut."

There was a moment before Claude ended the phone call, tossing his cell over onto the counter.

Claude tapped the spatula against Jonny's ass again. "These are almost done. Pop some bread in the toaster and grab two plates out of the counter?"

Jonny let out a low hum before nodding. "Okay."

 

 

 **iii.**   
"Hello."

"Hey," Jonny greeted. He was making his way through the United Center, heading towards the parking lot so he could head home. The game had ended almost an hour ago, but the adrenaline that game with a well won game was still thrumming through his veins. In times like this, when he was feeling happy and euphoric, he always wanted to share that feeling with Claude. "I saw the score on your game. Congratulations."

Claude hummed on the other end of the line. The sound was slow and sleepy. "Thanks. You did good too."

"Mmm."As much as his good mood was because of the game, he didn't feel like rehashing the entire thing. "Are you in bed already?"

"Yeah," Claude answered. Jonny could hear the tell tale creak of Claude shifting in his bed. He'd been trying to get Claude to buy a new one for ages, but Claude always resisted on the principle that the bed was comfortable. He worked too hard to be sleeping on a bed less comfortable then the one he had. Jonny had tried convincing him that they could buy a bed that was even more comfortable than the one Claude had, but Claude had stayed firm. "I'm exhausted. I was thinking of crashing soon."

"Ah," Jonny said. "Anyway I could convince you to stay up a little longer? Talk to me on my drive home?"

"Maybe," Claude said. Jonny heard the soft noise, something between a moan and a groan, that meant Claude was stretching out. He could practically see Claude in that moment, lying on his bed in basketball shorts and a tee-shirt that was probably riding up his stomach as he stretched. His hair would be messy, the gel washed out of it in his post game shower, and his eyes would be half-lidded as sleep closed in. Jonny's chest filled with warmth just thinking about it. "What do I get out of it?"

"The immense pleasure of my company?" Claude let out a short bark of laughter, loud and amused, that had Jonny smiling even wider as he stepped into the garage. Amused, Jonny asked, "That's funny, huh?"

"Hilarious," Claude said without missing a beat. "I may be in love with you, but even I don't think you're that great."

Jonny's lips twitched upwards, his smile growing even further.

He opened his mouth, intent on telling Claude that he loved him, only to stop when he spotted Corey standing by his own car and looking at him with a strange expression on his face. The goalie was far enough that Jonny was sure he couldn't make out the details of his conversation, but even if he could it wasn't like he'd actually called Claude by name.

Raising one hand in greeting, Jonny called out, "Good game, Crow."

Corey pursed his lips together, eyes narrowing in suspicion, but than he shook his head. "You too, J."

 

  
**iiii.**  
Jonny was on a skype call with Pat Brisson, discussing the duties he had for the World Cup along with a tentative schedule for the Blackhawks summer promotional material, when he heard the front door open. Glancing over his shoulder, he found Claude stepping inside the house with his arms full of grocery bags.

Jonny flashed a smile at him, warm just at the sight. He loved seeing Claude in his house in Winnipeg.

They didn't spend their whole summer there. They each spent sometime alone with their families and they usually spent a few weeks together at Claude's place in Ottawa. Those meant a lot to Jonny, but they weren't the same as seeing Claude make himself comfortable in Jonny's home. It wasn't the same as seeing Claude fit himself into Jonny's life like he belonged there, like he was going to stay there for as long as Jonny would let him.

There wasn't any situation where Jonny wasn't going to want Claude by his side.

Claude gave Jonny a smile of his own, nothing more than a small turn of his lips, before he disappeared into the kitchen.

"Jon?" Pat questioned. "What are you looking at?"

"Mmm, nothing," Jonny dismissed. As he turned back to Pat, he said, "I'm going to have to let you go."

"What? Jonny, we aren't finished!" Pat objected. As Jonny reached out to cancel the call, Pat said, "And you do remember that conversation we had about relationships, right? How you have to tell me if your in one so we can figure out a game plan?"

"Yup," Jonny said, popping the p on the word. Gracelessly ignoring what his agent had been said, Jonny said, "Bye, Pat!" Then he reached out and canceled the call. He didn't waste anytime in climbing to his feet, making his way out to the kitchen to find Claude.

Claude was bent over in front of the fridge, slipping a package of strawberries into the bottom drawer.

"This is a nice sight," Jonny said. He hopped onto the island next to the grocery bags, letting his legs swing freely under him.

"I'm flattered," Claude said as he straightened up. He stepped to the side, moving in close. Jonny spread his legs so Claude could fit in between his legs. Jonny reached out to loop his fingers through Claude's belt loops, keeping him close even though he knew Claude wasn't going to step away. "But I think we both know that between the two of us, you have the better ass. Best in the league."

"Mmmm," Jonny hummed, leaning forward to catch Claude's lips. The kiss was soft and sweet. When he pulled away, he said, "I think Crosby could give me a run for my money."

"And you ruined it," Claude said. Despite his words, he ducked forward to press his lips against Jonny's in a quick peck.

"I was just stating facts. You can hate him all you want, but Sid's got a nice ass."

"I don't hate him," Claude said. "And I honestly wouldn't know. My boyfriend happens to be hot enough that I've never had to check out Crosby's ass, but apparently the same can't be said about yours."

"Nah," Jonny dismissed. "It's just that his ass isn't his nicest feature."

"Yeah? What is?"

"His hands," Jonny said. He slipped his fingers out of Claude's belt looped so he could grab Claude's wrists, bringing Claude's hands up to his mouth. He looked up at Claude through half lidded eyes, letting his lips brush against Claude's knuckles as he said, "He does absolutely filthy things with them."

"You are a menace to society," Claude remarked, his voice dipping a little lower then it normally did. "And I have no idea how you managed to convince an entire city that you're even remotely serious."

Jonny just shrugged, knowing it was a joke more than an actual dig at his personality. Claude knew how wound up Jonny could get when it came to hockey, knew how he buckled down because he didn't want to disappoint the Blackhawks or Chicago after all they'd given him, but he also knew better than anyone how Jonny was when he didn't feel that crushing weight on his shoulders.

"Come on, lets put these groceries away before anything melts," Claude said, giving a light tug so Jonny let go of his wrists. "You can go back to being horrible after we've saved the popsicles."

 

  
**iiiii.**   
Jonny bumped his shoulder against Claude's, drawing his attention, before he asked,  "Vous venez à la ma chambre d’hôtel ce soir?"

Claude glanced over at him, raising one eyebrow. He was obviously wondering why Jonny had switched to French when they tended to speak in English.

Jonny shot a meaningful look behind them where Tyler Seguin was talking to a few of their other teammates, his mouth spread in that ever present grin of his and his arms moving wildly.

They were out in Toronto with the rest of Team Canada. They were walking to the restaurant Babcock had chosen for their pre-practice team breakfast. Both the walk and the breakfast were meant for them to get acquainted with each other. Those of them who had been on Team Canada before would catch up and talk about what had been going on since the last tournament they'd played together while the new kids would get the chance to learn about guys that they usually saw a rivals.

Jonny had switched to French because most of the other French Canadians were walking in the front of the group while Claude was lagging behind with his phone in his hand. Jonny was willing to bet big money that he was complaining to Schenn or Couturier about being the lone Flyer on the team. Jonny had been walking up front, talking to Shea and Sidney, before he'd fallen back so he could talk to Claude.

"Cela ta façon de m’avoir invité?" Claude asked.

"Je ne savais pas que j’ai eu de vous inviter,"Jonny answered, a small frown flashing across his face. "Je pensais que tu savais que je voulais vous avec moi."

"Voous penser à ce sujet," Claude said before Jonny could dwell on it. He reached out, tapping his fingers lightly against Jonny's chin. "Je t’aime et je sais que tu m’aimes. Je ne voulais pas vous distraire avant un match."

Jonny opened his mouth to tell Claude that it was impossible for Claude to distract him when Claude was part of his routine, that he didn't remember the last time he played a game without calling or texting Claude, but before he got the words out before someone draped themselves over Claude.

"What are you two being so sneaky about?" Tyler Seguin asked. He had plastered himself against Claude's back, using the height difference between them to hook his chin over Claude's shoulder. "What with all the french and stuff?"

Jonny wasn't all that familiar with Tyler Seguin outside of the central division rivalry between their teams. Tyler hadn't been on the Canadian Olympic team and the last time Tyler had been available for Worlds Jonny had been busy winning a Stanley Cup. Jonny had seen enough of Tyler's personality during games, the way he liked to bump hips with Sharpy or Spezza during warm-ups or how he molded himself against both Benn brothers for cellys, and heard enough stories to know that Tyler was just an incredibly physical person.

It still didn't mean he was particularly pleased about someone as incredibly gorgeous as Tyler Seguin being that close to his boyfriend.

"We were talking about how ugly you are," Claude said without missing a beat. He shrugged his shoulders, getting Tyler to detach from his back. "We were using French in an attempt to be polite, but since you brought it up...."

"Rude," Tyler said, laughing as he fell into step with Claude instead of falling behind them again.

"True," Claude said. Then his lips spread in a wide, bright smile and he glanced over at Jonny, adding, "Je serai là."

"Didn't your mothers ever tell you it's rude to use your second language to make fun of people?" Tyler asked.

"Yeah," Jonny said, feeling a little more willing to joke and play along now when Claude's attention was on him even if only momentarily. He knew it was irrational to get insecure over such a stupid things, but sometimes irrationality slipped through the cracks. He figured it was probably the trade off for being so good at his job. He was secure in his hockey skills, so he had to be insecure about something else in his life. "But since French is my first language, I don't think it applies."

 

  
**i.**   
"So," Jonny glanced over at Sidney as he started speaking, raising an eyebrow so Sidney knew he was listening even as he focused on shoveling red velvet pancakes into his mouth, "Claude's going to your room tonight?"

Jonny felt a sharp burst of surprise and the pancakes he had just swallowed went down the wrong pipe. Coughing as he reached for his glass of water, he said, "What?"

"Claude and you," Sidney said. Jonny wondered if he could ignore the fact that that was definitely not a question and feign ignorance, but he felt a sharp rush of exhaustion roll over him. He was so sick of lying to people about Claude or acting like he wasn't seeing anyone. Before Jonny could make a decision on what he wanted to say, Sidney added, "I really don't care, but if you really want to keep it a secret maybe don't invite him to your hotel room when there are other people around."

"I....didn't think you could hear us?" Jonny said.

"We weren't exactly that far ahead of you," Sidney said with a roll of his eyes.

"Oh...."

"Anyway," Sidney said, turning away from Jonny as he focused on the steak and eggs on the plate in front of him, "like I said, I really don't care if you want Giroux to stick his dick in you - that's your bad decision to make - but can you please not do it tonight?"

"What?"

"Do not let Claude fuck you tonight," Sidney said. He popped a piece of steak covered in egg yolk into his mouth before looking over at Jonny, pointing his fork in his direction. "I just won a Stanley Cup. I am not starting this season by losing this tournament because you decided to have sex and are too sore to skate properly."

Still feeling a little lost, the only thing Jonny could think to say was, "Why are you so convinced I'm the one taking it?"

"Because I've spent enough time in a locker room with you to be intimately familiar with your ass looks like," Sidney said, "and there's no one is going to turn down the chance to fuck the second fattest ass in the NHL."

"Excuse you," Jonny said, still feeling like he had stepped into a parallel universe but gaining his footing with the conversation being the same easy banter that he'd always had with Sidney. "He happens to think I have the best ass in the NHL."

Sidney snorted, "He can think that all he wants, doesn't mean it's true. It just proves that love is truly blinding."

"Yeah," Jonny said, glancing down the table where Claude was sitting with Burns and Thornton. He felt a smile stretch across his lips as affection swelled in his chest. "I guess so."

**Author's Note:**

> 1) So when I saw this prompt on the sinbin, I kinda felt compelled to write it because like....FAV PEOPLE?? It was a little difficult to go against my natural inclination towards Sidney/Claude, but apparently it's way easier to ship Claude with other people than to ship Sidney with other people. 
> 
> 2) This fic probably would have made more sense as a five plus one, if I hadn't written it from Jonny's perspective. If I'd done the point of view of an outsider. But I wanted to write their relationship instead of just the view of it. So instead of being "five people who almost found out about their relationship and one person who already knew" it turned more into something else?
> 
> 3) If anyone didn't know, Claude played with the Phantoms for like....six months? If even? back when they were located in Phildelphia instead of Adirondack. He was there for like barely any time. 
> 
> 4) Please don't ask me about the timeline of this fic? It's linear and starts sometime in the 2015-2016 season? But fuck if I know where exactly all of these fit. 
> 
> 5) I dislike that I had two phone call sections back to back? But I needed an section in the season, so viola~ 
> 
> 6) I think it's literally impossible to ship two hockey players without one of them being represented by Pat Brisson. I have a knack for shipping pairings where BOTH of them are represented by Pat Brisson. 
> 
> 7) The general consensus between myself and the two people I showed this two was that we didn't really expect to enjoy it but ended up being kind of in love with it? I'm curious as too if you guys felt the same. Did you just click because the pairing was intriguing or have you thought about it before?
> 
> 8) I don't actually speak french or quebec-french. So this was done using an app only SLIGHTLY more reliable than google translate! Apologies if anything was wrong.


End file.
